Gun Safety

When I went to my father's house in rural Washington state 2 weeks ago, one thing I noticed was that leaned up against the piano was a 22 caliber rifle, and sitting next to it on the piano was a small box with about 30 live rounds in it. I naturally picked up the rifle and checked to see if there were any rounds loaded, opening the bolt action chamber and removing the small clip. Then I naturally pointed it out the window and took sights on the well house out in the paddock. It took me a while to notice this as anything other than completely normal. I remain a product of my upbringing. Perhaps it's not so strange, in the end, that I accidentally shot myself in the hand with a BB gun at the age of 17.

I found myself in a discussion, later in the day, with my amazing lovely dad and my very kewl brother in law, both of whom thought it would be totally fine, in terms of safety were I to bring my 8 year old daughter to the property to visit, to simply place the guns (yes, the perhaps as many as 2 dozen guns in the house) under my dad's bed. In the end they agreed to get them out of the house altogether before she visited, but they still thought my boundary was unnecessarily stiff.

Just as an FYI, even the National Rifle Association, which is more or less the biggest group of civilian gun crazies in the world, recommends that gun owners keep their guns and ammunition physically/mechanically inaccessible to children and other unauthorized persons.

I find it wonderful that here in Australia we as parents don't so much have to inquire, with new friends, about guns in the house before we can bring our children or let them visit. It's just not an issue. In Australia gun owners are legally required to store their guns in a safe, bolted down, and locked, and to store the ammunition in a separate bolted down locked safe. Furthermore, there just aren't anything like as many guns in general circulation as there are in the U.S. Woooohooooot!!!!!